First Date
by VerbotenesErgebnis
Summary: A short side story to my work 'The Lost Child' - In between her second and third years at Hogwarts, Katya Karkaroff goes on an arranged date with Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Durmstrang student who, unknown to Katya, has had a crush on her for six years. Will he have the courage to admit his feelings to her?
1. Chapter 1

'Katya, you remember Viktor.'

Waiting in front of the most expensive and elite coffeehouse in the Wizard Side of St. Petersburg stood sixteen-year old Viktor Krum, dressed in a nice pair of straight black pants, a white dress shirt and a lightweight black jacket. He smiled a little when he saw Katya, his green eyes holding a sparkle and warmness. Katya stood a bit confused. Earlier that day she was told by Igor that he had a surprise for her and that they would both dress a little fancier than usual. Granted, Igor saying that he would dress with a bit more class, rather than appearing like a Nordic hunter combined with a Major General, was a surprise itself to say the least. But Katya didn't suspect anything necessarily odd about it. She automatically assumed that her family received notice of the Basilisk fiasco at Hogwarts and perhaps Maxim decided that they should treat her to something special in order to woo her before urging that she transfer to Beauxbatons.

This, however, seemed not to be the case at all. Surely they weren't planning on using Viktor Krum as a puppet to persuade her. She stood facing the older, handsome boy, clueless as to what she should say to him. Meanwhile Igor stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder very slightly pushing her towards Viktor's direction.

Viktor took a step closer. 'I'm very honoured to meet you again, Katya.' He extended his hand to her, which after a brief pause was taken by Katya. As he held her hand, Viktor looked up at Igor. 'May I?'

Igor nodded.

Viktor kissed Katya's hand, a feat which almost set her aback because no one at Hogwarts ever attempted to do such.

'Kati, don't be shy, you have met Viktor quite a few times before,' came Igor's voice from behind her.

Just a few times in passing during the Durmstrang Summer Programmes and at Durmstrang Prep where he was a few classes ahead of me, Katya thought. But I haven't really talked to him.

'It's an honour for me as well,' Katya said with a nod of her head, growing a bit more uncomfortable from her uncle's presence at what appeared to be his handing her over to Viktor for a date.

Viktor smiled, yet not as much as it seemed he wanted to, because Igor, despite being dressed well and with a lighter demeanour than he held at Durmstrang, was there. 'You look beautiful,' he said and kissed Katya's hand again.

Katya laughed lightly, almost a giggle. 'Thanks, you look great too.' Silently to herself she thought, Though I wish you had some more hair, in respect to his very short dark-brown hair. She then turned around enough so that she could see Igor. 'Do you mind?'

'Mind?' Igor asked.

'It seems you intended for me to meet here with Viktor, Uncle, is that true?' After Igor didn't answer, Katya added, 'I'd like to have a coffee with Viktor.'

'Oh, well, of course,' Igor said. 'Then ...you mean that you won't want me there too …'

Katya shook her head. 'No, rather just me and Viktor since he put in all this effort to come here from Bulgaria.' She put her hand on Igor's hand and peeled it off from her shoulder. 'So, please.'

Viktor chuckled. 'I'm coming for the Summer Programme, which starts next week, so it really wasn't much trouble for me to get here early.' He took a breath and directed his attention to Igor. 'But Mr. Karkaroff – Master Karkaroff – I would also prefer to spend a few hours alone with Katya. We are of the same generation, so it would be easier, more comfortable, without you there, sir, because you're a parental figure to Katya and an authority figure to me –'

Ooooh, nice choice of words, Viktor, he'll like that, Katya thought with a smirk.

'– Well, I'd like to get to know your niece, sir, if I may speak frankly, and based on what I just said –'

'Enough, Viktor, I'll come back in three hours,' Igor said.

Viktor nearly beamed with a smile. 'Thank you.'

As Igor began to walk away, Katya said, 'And Uncle Igor, there's something I'll need from you.' She held out her hand with her palm facing up.

Igor turned around and looked at Katya, having faced her approaching or reacting to him as such numerous more times than he would have liked to. 'Need something from me,' he said flatly.

Katya nodded. 'We're at the most expensive coffeehouse in the city.'

'Isn't it that the man should pay for the woman he's with?'

Before Viktor could comment, Katya answered, 'True but I shouldn't be penniless and I also shouldn't take advantage of Viktor's kindness, especially when all three of us know that us – our family – has the money to eat here for three meals per day if we wanted to.'

Igor stared at her before he reached into a zipper pocket of his jacket and took out a handful of coins. He dropped them in Katya's palm. 'There.'

Katya looked down at the gold coins in her palm then looked back at Igor with a raised eyebrow. 'Only 16 Galleons, are you kidding?'

With another stare, Igor reached back into his pocket and took out another sixteen or so gold coins and put them in Katya's hand.

She smiled. 'Thank you, Uncle.'

Igor appeared as if he was about to roll his eyes but due to Viktor standing there, he didn't. 'Three hours,' he said and walked away.

Katya beamed at what she held in her hand. 'Wonderful!' she exclaimed quietly and then put the coins safely in her own jacket pocket. She turned to Viktor. 'So? Let's go in.'

Viktor grinned, took her hand again and kissed it. 'Do you mind if I hold your hand still?'

'No, not at all,' she replied.

They began to walk inside. Viktor was prepared to open the door but instead it was opened by a doorman dressed in a black tuxedo. They were directed to the reception where Viktor told the blonde woman behind the desk that they had a reservation for Karkaroff-Krum. They were seated by another black tuxedo-kleided man at a small table located next to a window which faced a small inner courtyard.

Katya was about to seat herself when Viktor came behind the chair she approached and pulled it out for her. She paused for a moment before smiling and thanking him.

'Should I help you with your jacket?' he asked, referring to the light black jacket she wore. He gestured to a spot next to her seat where a hanger sat on the wall for jackets or coats to be hung from, if desired.

'Uhm,' Katya paused. 'No, that's really not necessary.' She sat down. 'Actually they have a great temperature-controlling system here, usually it's a bit cooler than it even is outside during the summer months. So I think I'll keep this on.'

Viktor did a half-bow. 'Whatever you wish.' He walked over to the other side of the small table and took his jacket off to reveal a frame of broad shoulders and a well-built torso, which were still visible despite that he was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt. He sat down and smiled at Katya. An awkward pause passed before his lips straightened. 'I hope I'm … not taking up your time. If you didn't want to see me, well … that's fine, I understand.'

Katya immediately shook her head. 'No, no, no, I really am glad to be here with you.' She smiled. 'I guess I'm not so used to – to going on a date with someone.'

Viktor shrugged shyly. 'To be honest, I haven't done it before either. I go to Durmstrang, which you know is an all-boys school. In my spare time I'm always training, not meeting girls.' He smiled proudly. 'Did you know that I'm on the Bulgarian National Team? For Quidditch, I mean. I don't play much yet, just like the other two younger players who have their schooling to finish.' A sparkle formed in his eyes. 'But I'm on the team!'

A giggle escaped past Katya's lips. It was a bit funny to her, seeing a broadly-built young man like Viktor speak with such excitement. In her honest opinion, she found the very short length of his hair to be a bit brutish, but his personality and manners completely contradicted this statement. Katya's giggle caused Viktor to shyly snicker. He couldn't stop looking at her. Even though she was only nearing the age of 14, she had a much more mature look to her and could easily pass for one or two years older. She was beautiful – beyond beautiful – in Viktor's eyes, especially now that he was seeing her in a setting where she wasn't wearing her Durmstrang Prep or Summer Academy uniform. He began to listen silently as Katya spoke about being on her House Team at Hogwarts, gazing into her blue eyes from across the table. He watched as her cheekbones rose as she smiled, the shape of her dark eyebrows, which held a perfect straight-with-a-slight-arc form. His observation about her eyebrows almost made him snicker, because the shape they were was clearly a Karkaroff trait. Igor had the same shape of eyebrows, perhaps the only more feminine feature on his face outside of his high, sharp cheekbones.

Viktor listened more, only nodding on occasion, as Katya talked about how after the upcoming academic year that she would become Quidditch Captain. She spoke with a proudness, a proudness clearly one of herself and her own abilities and achievements, rather than a pride given to her by her uncle to parrot out to people. Something about Katya had changed even since the previous summer, when she and he shared a couple brief encounters to discuss Quidditch strategies and how glad she was to be back in Russia. She seemed now to be more independent, forming and acting on more of her own opinions, instead of basing her life on those opinons that her family told her to believe. She was more mysterious, more enticing both as an individual and as a girl transforming into a young woman. Her hair was longer than Viktor remembered it to be, now extending quite a bit past her shoulders instead of to a point just a little bit beyond them. She dressed differently, at least on this occasion, sporting under her open jacket a silky periwinkle blouse tucked into a pair of loose yet form-fitting black shorts and a feminine version of men's black dress shoes. Viktor hadn't thought she was capable of looking so simple, yet classy and lightly feminine, as she sure wore the Durmstrang military-style uniform as if it were a second skin. And yet, she was the niece of Igor Karkaroff, bearing a striking resemblance to him that anyone who didn't know the relation would immediately draw the conclusion that she was his daughter. Contrary to the overbearing, growly, even sometimes threatening and foreboding Durmstrang Headmaster, Katya was personable, sarcastically funny, even in some ways sweet, which Viktor noticed more and more the longer he experienced her company in the coffeehouse setting.


	2. Chapter 2

Their conversation was broken up by a waiter who asked them if they knew what they wanted to order. Katya and Viktor looked at each other awkwardly, as they hadn't even glanced at the pair of menus sitting on the table in front of them.

'Our apologies,' Viktor said. 'We were catching up with each other and got lost in conversation. Could you please ask us again in five minutes?'

The waiter nodded and walked away.

Katya picked up her menu and began to look inside it. 'Hmm, the pistachio melange is always a favourite of mine.' She turned the page and then looked up at Viktor, who quickly brought his gaze to his own menu. Katya held back a chuckle, having realised that Viktor was looking at her and only at her while she told him about her Quidditch experiences. From that, she could assume that he was watching her as she scanned her menu. She thought briefly of how Draco would have reacted under these circumstances. An image of him popped into her head, looking straight at her instead of snapping his gaze to the menu, letting out a slightly-defensive 'What? Have you found what you wanted?' following a brief awkward beat of their eyes meeting. She forced back a laugh. Viktor was a beast while playing Quidditch, held a much stronger and more masculine form than the skinny and shorter-height Draco, yet in comparison he was extremely shy. She watched Viktor, whose eyes a few times raised from the menu to her face, before she asked, 'What sounds good to you, Viktor? I think I'll order whatever you get.' She smiled.

Viktor grinned. 'Master Karkaroff isn't here, so I can step away from the Health-Fit Diet.' After Katya chuckled, he added, 'I'm ordering a Cremeschnitte and a large Wiener Kaffee with chocolate shavings.'

A big smile formed on Katya's face. 'Good idea, we should both treat ourselves to this, before we're brought back under my uncle's Health-Fit surveillance.'

Viktor laughed, having to cover his mouth to limit its volume. 'Surveillance! But that's true! That's exactly how it is!' He paused and continued smirking, 'Especially for us on the Quidditch Team – the Durmstrang Team, not my team in Bulgaria. Master Karkaroff hasn't been the Quidditch coach for four years now but he still makes himself extremely involved.' He shrugged. 'But our coach takes him very seriously because he played professionally as a main player for Russia. I do admire and respect your uncle and I believe in his techniques, but …' He paused and let out a light laugh. 'I need some treats, too. His diet is quite restricting and I – well, I love desserts.' He laughed again.

The waiter arrived a couple moments later. Viktor said that they would order two large Wiener Kaffees with chocolate shavings and two Cremeschnitten. Katya gave a short nod to affirm their selection. After their order was made, they talked about different sweets. For some time, Viktor couldn't stop enthusiastically telling her about different cakes and pastries in Bulgaria, such as the yoghurt and cheese-filled flaky pastry called banitsa, baklava, the fried dough called mekitsi and the sweet raisin bread kozunak. Katya giggled a little at how lively he could be when talking about sweets. His descriptions of the Bulgarian desserts seemed never to end. He probably would have added more and more to his list to tell her about, had the waiter not arrived with their order.

In front of each of them a large, decorative ceramic mug on a matching small plate was placed. Viktor's eyes lit up at the sight of the puff of whipped cream topping the mug, covered in small square-shaped chocolate pieces that seemed to have been freshly shaven from a chocolate bar. They each also received a generous-sized Cremeschnitte, which sat on a silver plate with a matching small fork to the side. They thanked the waiter and were soon left to themselves.

'I like this place a lot,' Viktor smiled, looking into Katya's eyes.

She laughed lightly. 'But you didn't once comment on the chandeliers, the large windows, the courtyard, the ornate decorations on the ceiling and the walls …'

'I noticed, but I expected that when Master Karkaroff told me to come here on this date, and said that this was a place you tended to go to.'

Katya smiled with a small shrug to her left shoulder. 'Yeah, I guess.'

'I wouldn't have expected that you would go to a place that didn't look like this.' He shrugged. 'But if you were hinting that it's the food that gets my attention, not the atmosphere, you're beginning to know me well.'

Katya laughed. 'Then, we shouldn't keep you from your food any longer. Bon appetit.'

'Dobur apetit,' Viktor said with a large smile, glad to say a phrase in his native Bulgarian to her.

They ate in periods of on-again and off-again silence. Both of them ate relatively slow, completely savouring the opportunity to eat a creamy piece of cake and to wander from Igor's Health-Fit Diet Plan. When they did have bursts of conversation, they talked basically about nothing, just exchanged comments with each other. As Katya ate, she began to reflect a bit on the communication and atmosphere she shared with Viktor. For the past two years, most of her time was spent with Draco, who either continued to talk just for the sake of talking, or engaged her in playful but childish conversation where they poked fun at others with snickering comments and guffawing laughter. It was nevertheless amusing and fun for Katya and she loved her friendship with Draco. However she didn't feel the same sense of tranquility that she noticed she felt with Viktor. There was something about him that was oddly calming to her, enough to cause her to forget about the petrified students and the Basilisk at Hogwarts, enough to cause her to forget about the sometimes overbearing, overprotective and even pressuring attitude of Igor. It was nice, the time she was spending with Viktor was simply nice.

They each ordered another large Wiener Kaffee, Viktor later adding a third small Wiener Kaffee to his treat. As he ordered his third, Katya looked at her watch to check the time. Igor would be returning in a half hour. The thought of her time with Viktor ending in such a short time made Katya sigh. She felt a sinking feeling in her body.

'Will he be coming soon?' Viktor asked with an obvious disappointment in his voice.

'Yeah, in a half hour.'

Viktor let out a heavy breath. 'Uhm … if it's not my place to request this … just tell me …' he began nervously, looking down at his hands resting on the table. 'I would –' He seemed to have a difficulty finding his words. 'I would like it very much if we could continue our time together this afternoon.'

A small smile formed on Katya's lips. 'I would like that too.' She saw Viktor's face raise up from his hands to now looking her in the eyes. Seeing his shiny green eyes made her smile even more without her realising it. 'There's an ice cream shop just down the street from here and I can treat us both to ice cream.' She smiled even bigger. 'I have 32 Galleons at my disposal.'

Viktor chuckled, a light blush forming on his cheeks. 'That sounds like a good idea.'

'You won't be too full after one Cremeschnitte and three Wiener Kaffees?' Katya asked playfully.

Viktor at first nodded with a laugh and then began to shake his head. His ears grew a bit red from embarrassment, having begun to nod, which meant 'yes' in Russia but 'no' in Bulgaria. He was glad when Katya didn't remark on his mistake and instead said that she had the ability to contact her uncle and would go outside briefly and do it. They agreed on asking for two hours more time to themselves. Viktor watched as Katya got up from the table and walked towards the door, his eyes adoringly locked on her as his heart lightly pounded in his chest.


End file.
